Getting Girls to Choose STEM

In Bangladesh, though many girls opt for science and tech subjects in school, they usually do not pursue higher education or careers in those areas. Socio-economic barriers, including lack of proper guidance or family support, and uncertainty over future careers are the main reasons behind their decisions, speakers said recently at a roundtable on increasing participation of girls and women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The discussion programme, organised jointly by non-profit Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) and monthly C-News magazine, was held on January 10 at Software Technology Park in the capital’s Kawran Bazar.

Our girls not only get demotivated by their families and the society, they also have little interest in developing careers in certain subjects which is the result of the social structure in which they are raised, keynote speaker Samina M Saifuddin, Assistant Professor of Management, Department of Business Administration, Morgan State University, USA, said.

“When I got admission at BUET, I was told by a boy that the (engineering) subject I was going to study was a boy’s subject, and that one line was enough to make me decide to change my subject. Luckily, I was able to do what I was destined for in my life. But not everyone will be in the same situation,” said Samina Saifuddin, who went on to study management at Dhaka University.

According to the keynote paper, which was part of Saifuddin’s PhD research, the factors that work behind choosing any major subject for study are interest, influence and encouragement. These are also the major factors that determine women not choosing science and technology as careers, she added.  

Joining the discussion, chief guest Mustafa Jabbar, Minister for Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology, said: “Our daughters have never been told they can do it, they are not appreciated enough, this has to change, or else Bangladesh can never move ahead. If we are able to ensure a suitable work environment for our girls, I am sure they can achieve the impossible and take our county forward towards development.”

“I know we are yet to create a free and safe environment for our girls, but we are working on it and I am sure we will be able to achieve it. But what we can do now is ensure a work environment where our women can work and manage a family at the same time, and get the chance to show their talents,” the minister added.

Two students, Samia Khan and Tanzila Tamanna, who are studying STEM subjects at universities in Dhaka, said they came to attend the roundtable to get a better direction for their future.  

Other discussants also presented their views and their own personal stories, getting to the point that not only the society, but also economic condition and lack of encouragement are reasons that discourage girls from choosing STEM careers. To improve the situation, only campaigning and training won’t help, we have to change mindsets and the society at grassroots level, they concluded.   

Mike Kazi, CEO of Kazi IT, said: “We can encourage girls to take up STEM as their career, we can also try to change the mindset of our society. But still, economic barriers will exist for our girls. So, we have to provide and arrange more scholarships for girls so nothing can stop them from living up to their potentials.”

Humaira Chowdhury, Managing Director of Frontier Technology Limited, observed that the country is becoming more and more conservative and that is only because of lack of security and social structure.

The roundtable was organised as part of BdOSN’s ‘#missingdaughter’ project, which was launched in 2015 to encourage and motivate girls and young women to take interest in STEM and ICT (information and communications technology) as careers by arranging interactive sessions, hands-on activities, programming training and competitions in Bangladesh.

The project was mainly started because the voluntary organisation found there were hardly any girls participating in programming contests, or math, physics and ICT Olympics. When the project started in 2015, only five girls’ teams participated in a preliminary contest and one team got selected. Two years later, the project saw success as 384 girls’ teams registered for the National Girls Programming Contest 2017.

Participants at the roundtable included Iffat Kazi, Senior Principal Engineer, Oracle Corporation; Luna Shamsuddoha, president, BWIT; Rashid Kamal, editor, C-News; Shaikh Abdul Aziz, chairman, Leads Corporation Limited; Sirajul Hossain, CEO, Dnet; Shahadat Khan, CEO, Sure Cash; Tamanna Motahar, Faculty, North South University; Lafifa Jamal, Chairperson, Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Dhaka; Munir Hasan, General Secretary, BdOSN; and Shahnaj Parvin, Chairperson, Department of CSE, Central Women’s University.

Photos: Courtesy, Internet.

Getting Girls to Choose STEM

In Bangladesh, though many girls opt for science and tech subjects in school, they usually do not pursue higher education or careers in those areas. Socio-economic barriers, including lack of proper guidance or family support, and uncertainty over future careers are the main reasons behind their decisions, speakers said recently at a roundtable on increasing participation of girls and women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The discussion programme, organised jointly by non-profit Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) and monthly C-News magazine, was held on January 10 at Software Technology Park in the capitals Kawran Bazar. Our girls not only get demotivated by their families and the society, they also have little interest in developing careers in certain subjects which is the result of the social structure in which they are raised, keynote speaker Samina M Saifuddin, Assistant Professor of Management, Department of Business Administration, Morgan State University, USA, said. When I got admission at BUET, I was told by a boy that the (engineering) subject I was going to study was a boys subject, and that one line was enough to make me decide to change my subject. Luckily, I was able to do what I was destined for in my life. But not everyone will be in the same situation, said Samina Saifuddin, who went on to study management at Dhaka University. According to the keynote paper, which was part of Saifuddins PhD research, the factors that work behind choosing any major subject for study are interest, influence and encouragement. These are also the major factors that determine women not choosing science and technology as careers, she added. Joining the discussion, chief guest Mustafa Jabbar, Minister for Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology, said: Our daughters have never been told they can do it, they are not appreciated enough, this has to change, or else Bangladesh can never move ahead. If we are able to ensure a suitable work environment for our girls, I am sure they can achieve the impossible and take our county forward towards development. I know we are yet to create a free and safe environment for our girls, but we are working on it and I am sure we will be able to achieve it. But what we can do now is ensure a work environment where our women can work and manage a family at the same time, and get the chance to show their talents, the minister added. Two students, Samia Khan and Tanzila Tamanna, who are studying STEM subjects at universities in Dhaka, said they came to attend the roundtable to get a better direction for their future. Other discussants also presented their views and their own personal stories, getting to the point that not only the society, but also economic condition and lack of encouragement are reasons that discourage girls from choosing STEM careers. To improve the situation, only campaigning and training wont help, we have to change mindsets and the society at grassroots level, they concluded. Mike Kazi, CEO of Kazi IT, said: We can encourage girls to take up STEM as their career, we can also try to change the mindset of our society. But still, economic barriers will exist for our girls. So, we have to provide and arrange more scholarships for girls so nothing can stop them from living up to their potentials. Humaira Chowdhury, Managing Director of Frontier Technology Limited, observed that the country is becoming more and more conservative and that is only because of lack of security and social structure. The roundtable was organised as part of BdOSNs #missingdaughter project, which was launched in 2015 to encourage and motivate girls and young women to take interest in STEM and ICT (information and communications technology) as careers by arranging interactive sessions, hands-on activities, programming training and competitions in Bangladesh. The project was mainly started because the voluntary organisation found there were hardly any girls participating in programming contests, or math, physics and ICT Olympics. When the project started in 2015, only five girls teams participated in a preliminary contest and one team got selected. Two years later, the project saw success as 384 girls teams registered for the National Girls Programming Contest 2017. Participants at the roundtable included Iffat Kazi, Senior Principal Engineer, Oracle Corporation; Luna Shamsuddoha, president, BWIT; Rashid Kamal, editor, C-News; Shaikh Abdul Aziz, chairman, Leads Corporation Limited; Sirajul Hossain, CEO, Dnet; Shahadat Khan, CEO, Sure Cash; Tamanna Motahar, Faculty, North South University; Lafifa Jamal, Chairperson, Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Dhaka; Munir Hasan, General Secretary, BdOSN; and Shahnaj Parvin, Chairperson, Department of CSE, Central Womens University. Photos: Courtesy, Internet.